Following the team with a unique perspective on all things Phillies. Email me: PhilliesPhollowers@comcast.net – Peace, Love & Baseball – Jenn

Results tagged ‘ Blake Hawksworth ’

The Phillies jumped out to a 3 run lead in their first inning against the Cardinals tonight, giving false hope to Phillies fans everywhere.Mr. Inconsistent, Kyle Kendrick, took the mound and quickly dashed those hopes.Kendrick allowed 1 run in each of the first two innings and then plunged the dagger into our hearts with a 5-run 5th inning.

The killer 5th inning started with a walk, a double and then a 2-run homer from Albert Pujols.Kendrick gave up two more home runs before the Phillies even bothered to get the bullpen warming up.What was manager Charlie Manuel waiting for?Did he think Kendrick was going to magically morph into Roy Halladay (oh yeah, Halladay got rocked yesterday)?How about Jamie Moyer (nah, 5 runs in 3 innings last time out)?Ok then, Cliff Lee?We wish…

Actually, when Manuel had not pulled Kendrick after the 3 home runs, I was waiting for Kendrick to throw his hands in the air and yell, “I surrender!” to the Cardinals.They could have just slapped the cuffs on him and taken him away to the clubhouse like a prisoner.

So Kendrick did not get dragged off the mound and he certainly did not morph into a better pitcher.But reliever Chad Durbin tried to follow in his footsteps, giving up a solo homer in the 6th inning.Meanwhile, the Phillies offense scored a few runs, but they were facing the Cards worst pitcher.They should have destroyed this guy.Instead, they collected only 4 runs, even when Blake Hawksworth walked Kendrick…twice.

Many players, like Raul Ibanez and Ryan Howard, had multi-hit nights; Shane Victorino had 2 RBI with his one hit.But most hits were not timely, or something stupid happened right afterwards.Like Jayson Werth, who is not hitting at all, finally dribbled a bunt down the third base line for a hit and then proceeded to get himself picked off at first base.The Phillies went on to lose by a score of 8-4.

The Cardinals will be sending 3 very good pitchers to the mound in the next 3 games.The Phillies may have blown their chance today to show off some offensive power before having to face the better pitchers.Tomorrow’s game time is 8:15pm.

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